THE DAZZLER EXTRA – ON THIS WEEK – MAY 24 May 27 2008 The Dazzler reported that Cheshire coach Andy Paton received an award as one of the Sky Sports North West Coaches of the Year, presented to him on the outfield at Old Trafford at tea on the first day of the Test Match, by Sir Ian Botham. May 25 2010 2010 would be Appleton’s treble winning year, and before the end of May in that year they were already the only team who were unbeaten across all competitions. May 26 2013 Dawn Prestidge took 6-28, including a hat-trick, then made 42 with the bat, but all in a losing cause! Cheshire went down to a 13-run defeat to Ireland at Hawk Green. May 26 2013 Emma Birks and Naela Ahmad – the latter would later join the Stockport club – inspired second division Hawarden Park to a Knockout Cup win over top-flight Stockport Trinity. May 26 2014 Appleton’s Jenny Clarke took seven wickets for five runs, which at the time was the league record individual bowling performance record. May 26 2014 Romiley’s Penny Critchlow made her second successive league century, and after her previous effort had been in a losing cause, this knock inspired her team to a victory over Wistaston. May 24 2015 Didsbury made a major statement on the way to winning the division two title. Hannah Jones and Abby Nicholson each took three cheap wickets as Wistaston were bundled out for just 26 and the Manchester club won by 10 wickets. It was no mean feat - Wistaston were themselves on a three- match league unbeaten run, and a sequence of six without defeat in all competitions. Wistaston would also end the season by becoming T20 champions of Cheshire once again. May 24 2015 Cheshire captain Jenny Dunn made 89, which would be her 50-over career best for the county, but it came in a losing cause. Cheshire’s score of 209-8 became their highest ever total to result in defeat, as on the fast scoring Barnton ground, the Netherlands reached their imposing target with room to spare. May 22 2016 Didsbury launched the league’s first ever club second team by staging a home double header. A morning match saw the seconds lose to Leigh, but the first team scored an impressive win over Appleton in the afternoon. For next week? Who scored 119 when Chester Boughton Hall scored 215-2 last year and recorded the highest run chase in league history? If anyone has any memories of the matches reported in an issue of the Dazzler Extra, and they would like to share these with the readership, please let me know. Cheshire’s greatest victories The mention of Cheshire’s 2009 home win over Lancashire leads us on to a more detailed look at occasions when Cheshire have beaten some of the powerhouse counties of women’s cricket. Here I have taken the counties who played in the first division of the 50-over County Championship in 2019, plus those who finished in the top three in division two, but then discounted Hampshire, as with respect to anyone reading from that county, their time at the top has only come relatively recently after Charlotte Edwards got involved after her international retirement. Still that certainly leaves some memorable wins over five counties to look back on … Lancashire July 26 1998 at Cambridge Cheshire 276-6 (50; Sarah Collyer 86, Allyson Byrne 80, Katherine Bond 56*) Lancashire 227-8 (50) Cheshire have beaten their Red Rose neighbours on no fewer than four occasions. This first victory came immediately after the two counties went it alone, having played as a combined team between 1991 and 1997, and the first encounter went the way of the supposed ‘minor’ county! The opening stand of 178 between Sarah Collyer and Allyson Byrne remains Cheshire’s highest partnership for any wicket. July 29 2000 at Cambridge Lancashire 128 (49.1; Suzi Walker 3-23, Ali Cutler 2-17, Laura MacLeod 2-27) Cheshire 131-9 (46.1; Sal Cowap 33, Sarah Collyer 26) A tenth wicket stand of 15 was required to see Cheshire over the line to a nerve-racking win here. May 24 2009 at Alvanley Lancashire 61 (39.4; Kate Skelhorn 4-17, Lorna Thomas 2-10) Cheshire 62-3 (30.4; Hannah Gradwell 31*) A massive win that some hailed as the most impressive win in the county’s history. Kate Skelhorn’s initial burst reduced Lancashire to 22-4 and Lorna Thomas then produced a spell that included seven maiden overs to maintain the pressure. August 30 2009 at Vernon Carus Cheshire 169 (49.4; Laura MacLeod 64) Lancashire 62-7 (33.5; Lorna Thomas 3-15, MacLeod 2-9) For good measure, Cheshire went and made it a Championship double that year, with Lancashire well behind the rate when rain forced an early conclusion. Prominent names in the Lancashire teams: • CWCL stalwart Carol Ingham (1998 match) • CWCL stalwart Vicki Dean (1998 & 2000) • England international Arran Brindle (Thompson) – 99 caps between 1999 and 2014 (1998 & 2000) • England international Kate Cross – 42 caps between 2013 and present (2009) • England international Alex Hartley – 32 caps between 2016 and 2019 (2009) Middlesex July 10 2005 at Chester Boughton Hall Cheshire 223-8 (50; Rebecca Clarke 66, Hayley Agnew 35, Jenny Halstead 24) Middlesex 168-9 (50; Ali Cutler 3-38, Zem Afzal 2-20) Cheshire defeated Middlesex three times in four years, and Rebecca Clarke and Ali Cutler inspired the first of these on home soil. June 10 2007 at Hawarden Castle Middlesex 171-8 (50; Lorna Thomas 3-24, Dawn Prestidge 2-32) Cheshire 172-3 (38.4; Dawn Prestidge 57*, Megan White 40, Jenny Halstead 34) Dawn Prestidge was in superb form on her own home club ground to inspire this convincing victory. This is the only occasion when Cheshire have staged a home match across the Welsh border. June 8 2008 at South Hampstead Cheshire 137 (49.3; Jenny Halstead 52, Hannah Gradwell 25) Middlesex 135-9 (50; Halstead 2-12, Kate Skelhorn 2-23) Jenny Halstead produced the best figures with both bat and ball but to pull off this dramatic win Cheshire were massively grateful to have had Dawn Prestidge available to bowl the final over. Those final six balls commenced with ten runs required but with Middlesex’s number three still at the crease with 60 runs to her name, but Prestidge kept things sufficiently tight to stop her finding the boundary, and to have her run out from the penultimate ball. This is the only match in this ‘great victories’ list that involved a long-distance away trip, with all the others being home matches, more local away trips or matches at neutral venues. 137 is the lowest score that Cheshire have posted batting first in a 50- over match while still managing to come away with victory. Prominent names in the Middlesex teams: • England international Beth Morgan – 107 caps between 1999 and 2011 (2005, 2007 & 2008 matches) Essex May 3 2009 at Cheadle Essex 190 (47.1; Lorna Thomas 3-39, Kate Skelhorn 2-23, Laura MacLeod 2-27) Cheshire 192-4 (45; Dawn Prestidge 82*, Lauren Griffiths 40, Jennie Kitzinger 28) A potentially tricky run chase was accomplished with ease, led by Dawn Prestidge in an innings which started her own personal love affair with the Cheadle ground as she was to top 200 runs in three visits to the venue with Cheshire. Prominent names in the Essex team: • England international Beth MacGregor – 3 caps in 2010/11 • England international Beth Langston – 6 caps between 2013 and 2017 Warwickshire August 24 2004 at Reading Cheshire 155 (48.5; Jenny Halstead 46, Dawn Prestidge 39, Rebecca Clarke 21) Warwickshire 118 (43.5; Sarah Sutcliffe 4-24, Ali Cutler 2-10, Dawn Prestidge 2-18) September 6 2009 at Mobberley Cheshire 199 (49.5; Lauren Griffiths 57, Dawn Prestidge 29, Laura MacLeod 27, Hannah Gradwell 23) Warwickshire 57-8 (31; MacLeod 4-8) A massive win on faster scoring rate after rain forced an early conclusion. The four wickets for eight runs analysis was Laura MacLeod’s Cheshire career best. Prominent names in the Warwickshire teams: • Australia international Lisa Keightley – 92 caps between 1994 and 2005 and now England’s Head Coach (2009 match) • England international Amy Jones – 94 caps between 2012 and present (2009) • England international Rebecca Grundy – 19 caps between 2013 and 2016 (2009) Berkshire July 1 2018 at Chester Boughton Hall Cheshire 122-7 (20; Katie Bennett 28, Megan Cureton 22*) Berkshire 101-9 (20; Sarah Worsdale 2-10, Kate Coppack 2-14, Ellie Mason 2-18) Sadly, the Warwickshire match above from 2009 appears to be the last of Cheshire’s great victories in County Championship cricket, but to finish, here’s one from Cheshire’s more recent ‘T20 only’ era. Katie Bennett and Megan Cureton rescued Cheshire from 51-6 before the bowlers finished the job to complete the victory that kept Cheshire in division two for the following year. And the near miss … Yorkshire July 20 2008 at Alvanley Cheshire 115 (49.2; Dawn Prestidge 32, Jennie Kitzinger 25) Yorkshire 117-9 (42.1; Lorna Thomas 4-20, Dawn Prestidge 2-16) Pulling off this win would surely have trumped all of the victories we have covered in this newsletter, and had Yorkshire not pulled this one out of the bag with a last wicket stand of 24, Cheshire would indeed have been celebrating a famous win over the White Rose.